Dates: 1934 - 1940
HMS Shark (54S) was a Royal Navy S-class submarine built at Chatham Dockyard and commissioned on 31 December 1934. Complement: 39.
Her career began operating from Portsmouth, then during 1935 she sailed for the Mediterranean and remained on station until 1939.
Soon after war began, Shark sailed for the UK with 3 other submarines of her class, arriving back on 22nd October 1939 at Portsmouth. She made one war patrol before sailing to Sheerness for repairs. From Sheerness she moved to Harwich and patrolled from there until late May 1940 when she sailed to Rosyth.
She was attacked and damaged by German seaplanes while patrolling on the surface near Skudesnes, south-west Norway on 5 July 1940. The following morning, 3 German minesweeping trawlers arrived to take Shark under tow but she was scuttled by her crew about 25 nautical miles west-south-west of Egersund, Norway slightly damaging one of them in the process.
The wreck of HMS Shark was found by a survey vessel whilst surveying a cable route in April 2008 at a depth of 251 metres.
Association:
Submariners Association
’Pinza’
114 Rowner Lane
Gosport Hants PO13 0ES
E-mail: davebarlow84@tiscali.co.uk
Website: http://www.submarinersassociation.co.uk/
Museum:
Royal Navy Submarine Museum
Haslar Jetty Road
Gosport Hampshire PO12 2AS
Phone: 023 9252 9217
Fax: 023 9251 1349
E-mail: admin@rnsubmus.co.uk
Website: http://www.rnsubmus.co.uk/
